The Federal Government has unveiled plans to merge Junior Secondary Schools (JSS) and Senior Secondary Schools (SSS) as part of efforts to tackle the growing number of out-of-school children across the country.
Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, announced the proposed reform on Tuesday in Abuja during the inauguration of the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) Ministerial Implementation and Monitoring Committee.
According to the minister, the existing system has failed to keep many pupils in school, with over 20 million children dropping out between primary education and junior secondary level.
“We have 20 million dropouts from primary school to JSS. Where are those students? We also found we have 80,000 public primary schools and only about 15,000 junior secondary schools. That’s a one-to-eight ratio,” Alausa said.
He explained that the shortage of junior secondary schools has left many classrooms overcrowded, while numerous senior secondary schools, particularly in Kaduna and other northern states, remain underused.
Alausa argued that separating JSS and SSS under different administrations has created unnecessary challenges without improving educational outcomes.
“This disarticulation policy has failed. We will phase it out. We can’t be creating positions because we want to create a director level for people while we harm our education system. It’s about doing what is best for every Nigerian child,” he said.
The minister disclosed that the proposal would be presented at the next meeting of the National Council on Education for consideration.
He said the planned reform is expected to improve access to secondary education and increase the number of students advancing from junior to senior secondary school.
“This government will not fail. We are fixing it,” Alausa said.
